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Today the GLOW 2013 light art festival starts in Eindhoven, NL. GLOW started in 2006 and has evolved into  the largest event in the Netherlands that specifically focuses on light art.

GREENPOWER LAGOON MONSTER

This year’s theme is “Urban Playground“. According to the city marketing blurb:

‘Urban Playground’ is the theme of the eighth edition of GLOW. During the week Eindhoven will be the playground of different light artists. By playing with light they’ll show that reality can be experienced in a totally different way.  The theme ‘Urban Playground’ is well chosen. In Eindhoven both creative innovators, smart scientists and ambitious sports men and women get plenty of space to explore new horizons. Here the TU/e, the High Tech Campus and the Design Academy are located and the city is also the home of football club PSV. This year the Philips Sports Club celebrates its 100th anniversary and certainly with the theme ‘Urban Playground’ that is a great excuse to take the art route through the football stadium. But also buildings, streets, warehouses, squares and alleyways in the public space are part of the four kilometers long route. Made out of stone, cement, asphalt and concrete these are the building blocks of the city. Just as dancers or musicians the artists of GLOW play with concepts such as shape, size, scale, color, movement, rhythm and sound. Using various light applications, they open new perspectives on the environment of the city.

Anyway: GLOW is definitely about “light and architecture in the city“. The nice thing about GLOW is that the (often very spectacular) art is embedded into the city. There is a GLOW route of 4 km which you can walk, preferrably at night, bringing you to the art locations. There are iPhone and Android apps available on the GLOW website to enable you to use your mobile phone to find your way around Eindhoven.

This year the festival also has a spinoff event called “GLOW Next” located at Eindhoven’s creative hotspot Strijp-S:

GLOW was such a success in the city centre that the organisation decided to expand the festival with a separate event at Strijp-S – GLOW NEXT. In the coming years, GLOW NEXT will unfold into an international meeting place and site for experimentation where innovative light experiments can be presented. GLOW NEXT focuses on interactive, playful light art and ground-breaking performances and installations that use light in the dynamic, compelling creation of new realities.

Visit GLOW and GLOW NEXT  if you are interested in spectacular interventions, installations, performances and events using artificial light.

• GLOW Eindhoven website